Distributors

[KE4AVB]

Anyone know any other OEM parts distributors beside Gardner and RBI that will serve a Tennessee account? I having problem Gardner corporate refusing to work with me lately and I would like to have another backup OEM parts distributor that has good prices.

[bgsengine]

have you tried subscribing to Power Equipment Trade magazine? They have quite a listing of distributors and other advertisers , I think they also do an annual "bible" listing of just about every possible category of manufacturer and distributor along with contact info.. http://www.powerequipmenttrade.com/ Subscription should be free to legit businesses able to provide the necessary details, I believe.. much as I have tried in the past, It's almost impossible to unsubscribe until you stop renewing (takes a year or two)

[KE4AVB]

Nope. I will need to check them this weekend when I get some spare time.

The problem with Gardner right now is everyone is passing the buck as the saying goes but no one does anything. No problem getting the parts if in stock. But their decision to start charging extra for credit card use is a none starter with me especially when they want charge me 1.5% everytime but businesses that pay their monthly charge account by credit card get a 1.0% rate. It looks they just wanted to punish me for wanting to pay up front. Its the principle of it that I am fighting. I just don't like being punish for things that are not my fault.

They said in a letter that I can pay via ACH payments but I can't even get them to make the change over. Maybe it is because I am a small account and they don't care.

I am being a little hard head about it too as I just stop buying from them until they make the change. Beside I have found several items a lot cheaper through RBI. That is why I brought three complete spindles from RBI as they were $20 ea cheaper. Not everything is cheaper though but it usually works out near even with the Gardner prices. It just that the Tuff Torq and Hydro Gear parts are not available through RBI.

It is sorta like my dealings with A&I where they refused to reply to me for three weeks then call and started lying right off the start. They went from nearly 4,000 in sales to 421.00 this year as I am not going to pay another thing from them until next year. I just been ordering the replacement items from other vendors and depleting my A&I items from inventory.

[KE4AVB]

Well I got accepted for the free subscription. Now just playing thumb wars for the next 4-6 weeks.

[mr-moe]

What about Stens or Sunbelt?

[KE4AVB]

What about Stens or Sunbelt?

They are fine for after market parts; although, Sunbelt (A&I owned) is currently serving a six month suspension here for their failure to return my emails for three weeks back in May and then my sales rep called. He start right off the bat lying to me about calling me every day for the pass three weeks. It was a straight up lie as my phone system records every inbound phone number with a time stamp. That was the last week May and I haven't purchase a darn thing from them since the 1st of June and will not until until at least January 1st, 2022.

And Gardner, my main OEM supplier, is puling the same trick as I haven't gotten my account straighten out in the last two months. And I haven't purchased a thing from since August 1st, 2021. I had put a hold on ordering for 30 days which expired August 31st but they have refused to work with me so they are now on at least a six month suspension too.

I getting pissed that these companies are acting like I am someone just to ignore. Normally I buy up to $3000 in after market parts from A&I every year but I have only brought $421 this year. And purchases from Gardner stop at $2400 and RBI just passed them at $2700 currently. Last year I only purchased $1350 from RBI. Even my sales rep can't get Gardner corporate off their butts. They just don't care about us little shops.

The problem is that RBI don't carry half the product lines that Gardner does nor do they provide price files. This is why I am looking another distributor that might fill in the parts lines that I was getting from Gardner.

I am lucky to have a decent inventory so I am not hurting for parts yet. I am actually making profit on the parts that purchased last year as the retail prices keep going up.